Marionette
by DestinyDevistation
Summary: this was his fault, there was no way out of it, no way to escape the guilt. No way to escape the burning pounding pain in his chest. There was no way he could save her, He didn't save her. It was all his fault.  Sasuke Uchiha sat down and cried.
1. Introduction

He was screaming; he had no clue what he was saying, or how he sounded, he couldn't hear, he just knew he was screaming. He couldn't feel his body, he'd been running for miles in the snow, with her in his arms. He didn't stop, he didn't slow down, she couldn't afford for him to. He could see the hospital in the distance, almost there, so close. He forced himself to run faster, faster, faster. His eyes fixated on the hospital, he had to hurry.

He couldn't feel anything but adrenaline, pushing him.

He reached the doors, and kicked them open, he couldn't slow down, he couldn't let a single moment slip through his finger tips.

The room broke out into a panic, Konoha hospital had never seen anything this bad.

They had to pry the girl from his arms, and onto a stretcher.

He refused to let go, the had to force his hands off the rails of the rolling bed.

Security pushed him into the waiting room, and closed the door behind him.

He watched through the windows on either door, ans their wheeled her away and eventually turned a corner.

The adrenaline was wearing off, his body was heavy. He was so tired, his body was so sore.

He looked down at himself, his chest and arms were covered in blood, _her_ blood.

He wanted to vomit. He lifted his shaking hands to his face, they too were covered in her crimson life force.

He looked around the room franticly searching for a bathroom, he had to wash the stench of iron and gore from him.

He spotted the sign on a door across the room, along with the people that occupied the room that were staring at him.

He couldn't blame them, if he'd seen someone run into a hospital screaming incoherent things, carrying an unconscious girl, covered in blood.

He hurried to the bathroom, the sooner this horrible smell was off of him the better.

He opened every stall, then locked the door, he wanted to be alone.

The boy looked into the mirror.

He was crying, he was unaware that he was...actually crying. He raised his hands to wipe the tears away, then quickly pulled away remembering the blood.

He turned the cold water on, then placed his hands under the flow.

The water numbed his skin, and washed away the horrible red liquid.

Once his hands were clean he pushed the water further up onto his arms.

The water turned a crimson red.

His heart clenched at how much blood was on him, she'd lost more before he'd found her.

Had he been too late...Would she be able to...

He shook his head, pushing the thought to the back of his mind.

She would make it, She had to... he needed to..he needed...he just needed her to survive.

He looked down at his shirt. He couldn't deal with all the blood, he couldn't deal with being covered in her blood.

He pulled the piece of clothing over his head, being careful not to get any blood on his face.

The adrenaline was completely gone now. He could feel the hot tears streaming down his face.

They felt foreign, and wrong. He hadn't cried in years.

He pumped some soap on his shirt and threw it into the sink.

He the blood from his clothing with his hands.

He looked in the mirror, the blood had soaked through, onto his skin.

He got some toilet paper from the closet stall.

He wet it down and used it to wash the blood away.

He looked back up in the mirror, he couldn't believe the reflection was really him.

He hated the reflection before him.

If he had just...

If he only had went with her,

She wouldn't be here.

This was his fault, there was no way out of it, no way to escape the guilt. No way to escape the burning pounding pain in his chest. There was no way he could save her, He didn't save her.

It was all his fault/

Sasuke Uchiha sat down in the bathroom floor and cried.


	2. Chapter 1

**Marionette Chapter II**

DestinyDevistation

**Three Months Earlier**

Uchiha Sasuke had left his home about twenty minutes earlier. He walked through the autumn leaf covered streets of Konoha, careful to avoid Ichiraku's, he knew the dobe would drag him inside and force thirteen bowls of ramen down his throat. He shuttered at the memory. They were thirty minutes late for work, and he wasn't about to let that happen again.

Overtime meant less time to train for the police academy admissions, and more time with his idiotic

co-workers.

Sasuke was just fine with taking a few extra minutes with his new route, even if it meant going past Yamanaka's flower shop. Ino was easy to avoid anyway, she wasn't allowed to leave the store until her shift was over.

The raven haired boy glanced over, there she was with her face pressed against the window, frantically waving her arms, trying to get him to step foot in the shop.

Sasuke sighed and shook his head, why couldn't he just have a peaceful walk to work.

"Hey, Sasuke-Kun!"

He stopped walking, his gaze turned toward the entrance of the flower shop again, and he could see long flowing pink hair, Sakura was walking up to him, the door swinging shut behind her.

"Sakura."

She came up to and stood beside him.

"Do you mind if I walk to work with you?"

Sasuke shrugged and began to walk, Sakura kept the pace beside him.

They rounded the corner and headed toward seventh street, to Kakashi's book store.

The uchiha had worked there with Naruto and Sakura ever since they were all twelve.

Sakura worked the register and kept track of the inventory. She was smart, so it suited her skills.

Sasuke and Naruto did all the manual labor. Most of the time, however, they all just sat around. The only people that ever came in were there to buy a copy the new Icha Icha Paradise. Kakashi was his own biggest customer.

It only took the pair a few minutes to reach the store. They both wanted to get inside, the air was getting colder and colder by the minute.

They met Naruto attempting to balance a few dozen bowls of ramen and open the door.

"Why does this damned door need me to pull it, why can't I just push the thing open!"

Obviously, he was failing at it.

"Move, Dobe i'll open the door."

Naruto huffed and stepped back.

"Just hurry Teme, my ramen is getting cold."

Sakura laughed, "decided to show up on time today, eh Naruto?"

The raven haired boy stepped in and held the door letting them all inside.

"I've been late a few times, Sakura-Chan, it's not like Kakashi makes an effort to show up on time anyway."

The blonde sat the containers down on a coffee table, then took a seat around it. He quickly went to work at devouring the remainder of his mid-morning ramen.

Sakura walked over to the phone, she had to check the shop messages.

Sasuke sat on the couch opposite to Naruto's seat. Sakura sat next to Sasuke after listening to the recordings. He, of course paid her no mind. Naruto slurped down another bowl of ramen,

"You two coming to my birthday party?"

Sakura shook her head,

"Yeah, Hinata's coming too right?"

Naruto nodded, noodles hanging from his mouth.

Sasuke sighed.

"What day is it again?"

The blonde swallowed a mouthful of ramen,

"My actual birthday is next thursday, but the concert is tomorrow night."

"I have an academy class."

Sakura's brow furrowed, she wanted Sasuke to come to the concert.

Hinata had been working on getting a date with the blonde idiot since they were kids, and now she was going to feel like a third wheel the entire night. She couldn't just blow it off either, not only was she going for Naruto's sake, but, Hinata had asked for her support. God knows Hinata couldn't handle the enormous crowd, loud music, and being close to Naruto on her own. The girl fainted if he even spoke to her. Sakura was hoping that she could get them alone and spend that time with Sasuke, but that plan was a failure.

Naruto shrugged, "No big deal, we'll just get some ramen thursday."

Sasuke rested his chin on his knuckles.

"hn."

The trio sat around for a few more hours, until their boss decided to stroll in, complete with an autographed copy Icha Icha Paradise in hand.

Then it was time to 'work'

Naruto and Sasuke un-packed some boxes of new book orders, including the new Paradise.

Naruto cursed the day his godfather ever wrote his pervy thoughts down on paper.

He was bored, and he wanted to stir up something interesting.

He narrowed his cerulean eyes and looked around, Sakura could not hear this conversation.

"Oi, Teme"

Sasuke sighed, "what is it, Dobe?"

Naruto plopped onto the floor, crossing his legs like a young child would when it was story time.

His fox like grin curled up into a smirk,

"you know, Sakura's friend is pretty hot."

Sasuke's face scrunched up with disgust.

"Ino?!"

Naruto fell back onto the floor then sprung back up

"No! I meant Hinata!"

Sasuke sighed in relief, he didn't think he could handle how loud a couple the two blondes would make. Hinata, however was quiet, maybe it would rub off on the Dobe.

The blonde looked over his shoulder, "She's got a huge pair, ya know."

He held his hands out from his chest, as if he were holding a pair of large breasts.

Sasuke's face changed to that of annoyance, he immediately went back to work.

The cerulean eyed boy propped his hands up on the back of his head.

His eyes closing in a fox like demeanor.

He looked over at the girl sitting behind the check out desk.

He'd once had a crush on Sakura, but it was obvious to him that his two best friends were meant for each other. Even if one of them didn't realize it yet.

"She won't wait on you forever you know."

The Uchiha immediately tightened up, and shot a deathly glare toward Naruto.

"I don't need anyone, Dobe."

The blonde let out a sigh and leaned back onto the floor. He knew how Sasuke was about things, being afraid to be close to anyone, then once he was he was terrified, so he wouldn't admit it, he'd been that way for as long as anyone could remember, at least since the murders.

Before that the Teme was an average kid, as average as an Uchiha could be anyway.

"Whatever, Sasuke."

The statement caught the Uchiha off guard, Naruto barley, if not ever called him by his actual name. Then the anger set in.

The raven haired boy glared at the dobe lying on the floor, he didn't need anyone, this was only a job, and that was it, wasn't it? He was only working here to make money to support himself until he graduated the police academy, at least, that's what he told himself.

Sasuke sighed, and went back to the task Kakashi had assigned them. Damned dobe.

"Look, _Naruto, _as soon as i'm done with the academy i'm out of here."

Naruto, gritted his teeth and growled, he didn't know what to say.

So, he turned back his work and started organizing books.

A few moments of silence passed before the Uzumaki could think of a response.

He sighed, "You may not see it Sasuke, but me, Kakashi, and Sakura-Chan are your friends, and we always will be."

The Uchiha didn't respond, he just looked at Naruto with a stern cold look.

Naruto knew when to back off, he'd made his point anyway.

A few moments of silence passed, only the faint sounds of Sakura answering phone calls and the soft thud of books being placed on the shelves made the silence bearable.

Sasuke sighed, the damned dobe always knew what to say to get under his skin.

"Look, Dobe, joining the KPD is something I just have to do."

Naruto turned his head to look at his friend, just as he though, the Teme hadn't even looked at him, he just kept putting books on the shelf.

"I know Teme, I would never try to make you do anything else, but that doesn't mean you can't drop by, that doesn't mean you can't have friends."

The silence returned, but it wasn't as heavy as before, the tension between the two was gone.

The four co-workers always had lunch together, alternating on who chose where to eat every other day. Unfortunately, today was the blonde's turn, and everyone knew what they were eating; Ramen.

Sakura had invited Hinata as well, she'd get them together if it was the last thing she ever did.

She watched the two talk while Naruto devoured bowl after bowl of Ramen. She'd known about Hinata's feelings for the blonde idiot for years now. Hinata had been practically in love with him as long as she had been in love with Sasuke.

She looked at the solemn Uchiha sitting next to her. She doubted he'd ever feel the same way she did, but honestly she was okay with that. She was happy just being able to be his friend.

She had come to accept the fact that she probably would never be with Sasuke. So, she decided if she couldn't be with the one she loved, she'd make sure her friends were happy. She was so close to getting these two together it was becoming annoying. She could see that Naruto liked her, it was obvious. Hopefully something would happen tomorrow night.

"Sakura."

The smooth voice of the Uchiha broke her chain of thought. She looked over at the raven haired boy peering down at her.

"Stop staring at the Dobe and Hinata and eat."

She hadn't realized she was staring.

"I- I wasn't staring, Sasuke-Kun!"

He didn't listen to her protests as he gathered another bundle of noodles on his chopsticks.

"Shut up and eat Sakura."

The pinkette sighed in defeat and ate the bundle of noodles that had been on her chopsticks for the past few minutes.

The rest of the workday was uneventful, Kakashi had left early, leaving the trio to lock up.

The three of them walked down seventh street in the light of the street lamps.

They always walked home together, it was easier that way.

Naruto lived the closest, about two blocks past the Ramen stand.

Sasuke watched him walk up the iron stairs of the apartment complex and disappear into one of the doors.

He lived alone, he had ever since he turned eighteen. He was an orphan, that was one of the only things he and Sasuke had in common. Before he got his own apartment he lived with his godfather, Jiraiya, the infamous author of the Paradise books. That was, however, practically the same thing as being alone. The old pervert travelled all over Japan for "research" on his novels.

Naruto didn't really remember his parents, if it wasn't for pictures he'd have no idea what they even looked like. Kakashi knew them, and he would often tell Naruto stories about them.

They both died after a drunk driver hit their car. They flipped over a guard rail. The KPD never found the guy that did it.

The walk with Sakura was filled with her talking. The Uchiha usually answering with "Hn."

Her talking didn't bother him, he'd been listening to her for the past seven years. She was annoying when they were twelve and had their first walks home. Those talks were much less mature and usually consisted of her asking him on dates and desperately looking for some sort of affection from him.

She had grown, however, becoming less annoying as she got older. She still had those moments, where she'd look at him, and let something slip that showed she was still hopelessly in love with him.

He smirked, no matter how mature she got, she'd still be annoying.

Sakura lived rather close to him, only a couple blocks separated her little apartment from the Uchiha's home.

Her family didn't really have that much money. Sasuke wasn't even sure what her parents did. Sakura never talked much about them, and he had only seen them once or twice when she had still lived with them, on the off chance they were outside when he walked home with her. They had never made any effort to talk to him, he hadn't either really. From what Sakura had said she didn't really have a good relationship with them. They were both terrible drunks and forced Sakura to do all the house work. They were far from being the best parents, but at least she had parents. She too, had moved out after she turned eighteen.

She was a nineteen year old girl living alone in what was one of the bad parts of town. That was the main reason the Uchiha walked her home everyday after work.

How could he be a member of the police force if he couldn't even keep one girl safe?

He watched her close the door, and waited for the sound of the lock before he continued on his walk home.

He also lived alone. His parents had been murdered when he was seven. The young Uchiha had been the one to find the bodies, and the murderer, His brother, Itachi.

Sasuke didn't remember much about that night, the last thing he could remember was seeing his brother over his parents bodies. He woke up in a hospital two weeks later, Itachi had beaten him into a coma and disappeared. They never caught him. The last time Sasuke had heard anything about him had been when he was eleven. He had joined some gang called, "The Akatsuki."

Sasuke scowled at the memory of the traitorous bastard.

The Uchiha looked up at his big dark empty house and remembered a time when a light was always on, and someone was always at home waiting for him with dinner and a warm smile.

He shook the thought from his mind, as he unlocked the door and entered his home. He had an academy class tomorrow night, and he needed to be ready and focused.

Sakura spent almost every night the same way, immersed in medical textbooks. She had just recently been accepted into the medical program at Konoha University. It was the one thing in life she felt like she was good at, it was something she loved. Tonight, however, was different.

When she walked into her little apartment and looked at the piles of books scattered across the floor she just felt tired. Tonight wasn't a night she'd spend hours reading.

She walked past the mess and went straight to her bedroom.

A lot of things were on her mind as she lie on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. It had hit her that she was alone, she had been alone her entire life. It had hit her that no man had ever loved her. The closest thing she had were the crushes that Naruto and that boy, Lee, from high school had on her a few years before.

All of her friends have had boyfriends, Ino and Temari had both dated Shikamaru, Temari was still with him while Ino had moved on to Sai. Tenten has been dating Neji for the past three years come to think of it, they were engaged now. Hell, Hinata even dated Kiba for a little while, and now she was almost dating Naruto. Now, here she was nineteen years old, going to school with a full time job and a place of her own, and never once had she even had a boyfriend; it was pathetic.

She thought of Sasuke, her Sasuke. She'd always had a thing for him, ever since they were kids. She really could not imagine herself feeling the way she did about him for anyone else. She sighed, she really was pathetic. Maybe it was time to try to move on. After all, no matter how much she loved him she knew he would never love her, he just didn't know how to. He couldn't open himself up and let himself be that vulnerable, not after what happened. She could understand that and she could accept it. But, she couldn't wait on him forever, she knew she had to at least try and see if she could move on, she deserved that much at least.

The concert was a lot more crowded than the trio had anticipated. The line to get in was stretched around the block so they waited a good hour to get to the door and have their tickets checked. This was the first concert Sakura and Hinata had been to, it was Naruto's tenth. Having virtually no supervision had given him the opportunity to do as he pleased with his God-Fathers money.

Inside the club was packed, the three friends couldn't move an inch without touching someone. The opening acts had already began to play and they could hear the screams from the mosh-pit infront of the stage.

Sakura had thought that Naruto had said this wouldn't be too intense for Hinata, apparently he didn't know what that meant. She thought of ways to make this work in her favor. She could see that Hinata was uncomfortable here. There was only one thing she could think to do.

Sakura pulled her phone out of her pocket and sent a text to Naruto.

"IDIOT! You said this was okay for Hinata! You better hold her hand the ENTIRE time you know how she can faint."

She watched Naruto check his phone, and put it back in his pocket. He reached over and held onto Hinata's hand, "Don't let go Hinata-Chan!".

Sakura smirked as she watched her friends cheeks turn red. It took a few seconds, but Hinata relaxed. Maybe Sakura could get them together tonight after all.

She took the opportunity to slip away. The club was crowded and hot, she needed some air. The pinkette walked out the doors and out onto the sidewalk. Her senses were instantly assaulted by the smell of cigarettes and pot. She had to walk a little father down the sidewalk to keep from coughing and gagging from the smoke.

Sakura sat down on the cement and watched the cars drive by. She wondered what it would have been like if Sasuke had came, and she wondered how his class was going. She sighed, she promised herself she'd stop doing this to herself, but she..

"Hey, mind if I sit with you?"

Her thought were cut short by a voice that sounded kind of mysterious and unlike any voice she had ever heard before.

She turned her head and was greeted by a pair of cool brown eyes, and a mess fiery red hair. All she could think about was how handsome he was. His features were so different than the man she was usually looking at.

She realized she hadn't answered him and he was staring at her waiting for an answer, all she could do was nod her head and watch him sit next to her on the sidewalk.

"So, what's your name?"

It took her a few seconds to realize she was still looking at him, and that he had asked her a question.

"Sakura."

He smirked, and it reminded her of Sasuke, and she remembered that she had to move on.

"Nice name, it matches your hair."

Sakura could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as the stranger brushed a stray piece of hair out of her face.

"name's Sasori, Doll."

Sakura never made it back inside, she'd lost track of time talking to Sasori. She'd learned quite a bit about him in the few hours they spent outside. He was 25, and he had recently moved from Suna. She'd told him a lot too, probably more than she should have, but she couldn't help herself. All she could focus on was the butterflies in her stomach and the brown eyes looking at her. She was however, carful not to mention Sasuke, she knew how she looked when she talked about him.

It wasn't long before he kissed her, her first kiss. She'd never felt so high before. She couldn't help but feel guilty at the same time, she'd always imagined that he would be her first. She was quick to push those thoughts aside and remind herself that she was moving on.

She couldn't believe when he asked her out on a date, and to be his girlfriend at the same time. Of course she'd said yes, and they exchanged phone numbers. She watched him put her contact name in as "Doll."

She hated when her phone started to ring. She knew it was Naruto and she knew it was time to leave.

She looked down at the name on her cell phone screen and frowned.

"Time to go, huh Doll?"

She looked back up at him and he kissed her again before standing up.

"I'll text you."

He just walked away and turned a corner, gone as quickly as he had came.

It took Sakura a second to realize her phone was still ringing in her hands.

"Hey, yeah i'm already outside, Naruto."

All she could do was go home, and wait for her _boyfriend_ to text her.


End file.
